Electric vehicles are forecast to cut into oil demand by 1M-2M bbl/day by 2035, according to oil industry consultant Wood McKenzie.

That estimate is actually much more conservative than Bloomberg New Energy Finance’s estimate for EVs to impact demand by 8M bbl/day by 2035. For perspective, OPEC agreed this week to coordinated production cuts of 1.2M bbl/day which swung crude oil prices wildly. EVs are only sipping up the equivalent of 50K bbl/day currently.

The general consensus even in the oil industry is that governments are moving toward major changes with pollution and emissions regulations. Just this week, the cities of Paris, Mexico City, Madrid and Athens all said they would ban the use of diesel vehicles by 2025. Beijing is also slowly adopting pro-EV policies.

A higher mix of EVs in the future has already been tipped off by the dramatic long-term electrification initiatives announced this year by companies such as BMW (OTCPK:BMWYY), Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY), Ford (NYSE:F) and Toyota (NYSE:TM). Around the corner, Tesla Motors (NASDAQ:TSLA) and General Motors (NYSE:GM) have their mass model EVs ready to roll - while new EV trucks, buses and motorcycles are also on the way.

California and nine other states that make up a combined 30% of the U.S. market mandate that automakers sell some non-polluting vehicles if they want to do business there, which goes a long way to explaining why money-losing zero-emissions models from more than 10 brands are on the roads, with more on the way.

The industry is willing to take the hit on a small scale now but things could get dicey over the next decade or so, as the states’ rules are set to tighten so that zero-emission vehicles will have to rise to an estimated 15.4% of sales by 2025, ~5x the current level.

A California law ordering greenhouse-gas emissions to be 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 would require ZEVs, plug-in hybrids or fuel-cell cars to comprise 40% of sales, up from ~3% now.

Elaine Chao is the pick of Donald Trump to be the Secretary of Transportation, according to numerous media outlets.

Chao served in the cabinets of Bush 41 and Bush 43. Early analysis is that she may be a known quantiy to the Detroit Three (GM, F, FCAU) who worked closely with her on a post-9/11 task force and broadly during the Bush years.

The big picture: There's been some concern over the impact of the Trump administration for EV sellers such as Tesla Motors (TSLA-1.9%), Nissan (OTCPK:NSANY) and Toyota (TM+0.7%) -- although the $7.5K federal tax break is already set to expire when automakers cross over the 200K U.S. EV sale mark. Federal fuel efficiency targets could be rolled back after Trump takes office, although some industry watchers think manufacturers are too far along in their EV, ridesharing and mobility projects to put the genie back in the bottle.

TrueCar estimates new automobile sales rose 3.6% in November. On an adjusted day basis, the forecasts falls to a 4.7% drop in sales for the month due to the two fewer selling days.

GM (NYSE:GM) sales for November are expected to increase 11.2% (unadjusted) to give it an 18.7% market share vs. 17.4% last year. Volkswagen (OTCPK:VLKAY), which is starting to lap its emissions scandal period, is expected to post a 4% gain for the month.

The research firm says average incentive spending was up 13% Y/Y to $3,475 per unit. The only automaker without an increase in incentive spending during the month was Daimler (OTCPK:DDAIF), accordintg to TrueCar.

"The early launch of Black Friday sales events is helping offset declines in fleet sales this month, as the retail sales environment remains strong for new car sales,” notes TrueCar analyst Eric Lyman.

General Motors' (NYSE:GM) plan to halt semi-autonomous vehicles with unresponsive motorists draws concerns from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which urges GM to ensure safety for the company's upcoming "Super Cruise" system feature that will slowly bring vehicles to a stop when motorists fail to retake control of the wheel.

The NHTSA letter, which approved GM's automatic activation of hazard lights in the slow-halt situation, is the U.S. government's latest effort to ramp up oversight for self-driving cars that are not governed by current regulations.

GM has delayed Super Cruise, previously set to debut on a Cadillac car this year, until 2017.

Cadillac (GM+0.3%) is delaying the start of a controversial new retail strategy for its dealerships, amid criticism from dealers who say the program is tedious and costly for big-volume operators and could compel smaller dealers to give up their Cadillac franchises, WSJ reports.

Cadillac reportedly is pushing back implementation of the plan to April from Jan. 1, which already had been postponed from a fall start date.

Some state dealership associations have criticized the plan as a strategy to shrink Cadillac’s dealership network, which is 3x bigger than most luxury brands despite Cadillac’s smaller market share.

General Motors (NYSE:GM) CEO Mary Barra tells Automotive News that the automaker plans to stay tight on incentive spending and fleet deliveries as it focuses on profitability over volume growth and market share. She is also in agreement that demand in the U.S. is levelling out.

"We do believe that we're at a plateau. So to be able to stay at a 17 million, or above -- anywhere where the first two digits are 17 is a good market -- we want to continue to seize that," notes Barra.

GM's YTD U.S. sales are up 1.0% to 1,998,990 units through the first ten months of the year.

The Chevrolet Bolt EV was named the 2017 Green Car of the Year at the Los Angeles Auto Show.

The Bolt beat out the BMW 330e, Chrysler Pacifica, Kia Optima and the Toyota Prius Prime for the distinction.

Earlier this week, the Bolt was the surprise winner of Motor Trend's Car of the Year. The publication raved about its road test of the EV model and noted it easily made the promised 238 miles of range.

"Simply put, it’s twice the car for half the price of a BMW i3," said one of the judges.

The Bolt is expected to be a halo vehicle for General Motors (NYSE:GM) and not a gigantic volume leader.